Dopplegänger
by Tetsuwan Penguin
Summary: What if Tobio hadn't died? Astro is accused of committing crimes in NYC that his double has masterminded.
1. Chapter 1

**Dopplegänger**

_I_

**It **was the office of the principal in an expensive Manhattan private school for the students of well heeled parents. The parent of the boy who was being detained in the office of the school's headmaster had been through this ritual several times before, like many other parents of spoiled brats. The principal was all too familiar with this particular case. The mother was a divorcée, who had received quite a large settlement from her former husband. Her son had only recently been returned to her custody after having lived with her ex for sometime. The two of them had been living in New York City for only a few months, this was the child's first semester in the school.

The boy sat in the chair next to his mother, fidgeting. It was clear that he was annoyed to be there, but his mother wasn't happy about the situation either. The principal tried to avoid looking at the child, and directed his attention to the boy's mother instead.

She was a middle aged Asian woman, quite possibly Japanese, thought the head of the school, thought he wasn't certain of that, thinking that she might also be Korean. She was quite well dressed, in a snappy business suit, high healed shoes, and sported tastefully applied makeup. Her hair was dark, except for a few strands of gray hair. Her dark sunglasses were propped up above her forehead, ready to be dropped back into position as soon as she left the building into the bright sunlight outside.

The boy, was another matter. He wore designer jeans, with a brightly colored button up shirt not tucked under his belt, but hanging loosely over his waistline. His auburn hair was well combed, except for two large cowlick tufts of hair sticking out at diagonal angles at either side of his head. He defiantly refused to remove the mirrored aviator styled mirrored sunglasses which hid his dark brown eyes from view.

"**This** is the third incident this month." The principal began. "Your son was found in the bathroom smoking marijuana, I'm sure he was selling it to the other students as well."

"That's not what he told me." The woman quickly spoke back. "You do seem to have a problem in this school, and you also seem to be taking the easy way out by blaming my son! The older boys in this school are the problem."

"If I had more proof than the word of the other hooligans he's been hanging with, I'd have called the police by now." The principal responded. "However, that's not the only trouble your son has gotten himself into. He's become quite arrogant and rude, and is insisting on going by the name Tojo. Some of the younger students have identified him and the gang members he's been seen with as having held them up for their lunch money. Your son is a bully, and a thief. He's been hanging out with known juvenile delinquents. If you don't keep him in line, he's bound to find himself cooling his heels in a jail cell before long. By rights I should have him expelled."

"But you won't." The woman said in a threatening voice. "I'm paying your school too much for his education, and your school board would have your job if you kicked my son out."

With that final remark, the mother grabbed her son by the hand and yanked him from the chair.  
"We're going home now," she told the boy. "You're grounded for the rest of the day, until school tomorrow."

As he watched them leave his office, the principal rested his face into his palms.

* * *

**Astro** dropped his suitcase, and those of the professor on the floor of their hotel room. They were staying in Manhattan for a week to visit a colleague of the professor's who was now teaching at Columbia university. Ochanomizu also wanted to visit many of the city's museums, especially the American museum of Natural History.

"We'll spend the day tomorrow with Doctor Hanamaru" Ochanomizu told Astro. "He's been dying to meet you, you know."

"Yes Hakase," Astro replied. "He worked at the Institute of Science before I was born, didn't he?"

"Yes he did." the professor replied. "He left about the time that Dr. Tenma took over from Dr. Pavilion. The two of them didn't get along very well. I suspect he always wanted to live in New York City anyway."

* * *

**Tojo **removed his sunglasses and breathed heavy on the lenses to fog them up and wiped the moisture off on the front of his shirt. He replaced the glasses on his head, and then pulled a comb from his shirt pocket. Tojo combed his hair, gathering each of his two cowlicks into neat bundles sticking back from his head. He looked around him, taking in the scene on the street. The traffic on Amsterdam avenue was light, and few pedestrians were on the street. It was an off hour, late in the afternoon, yet not quite quitting time. He looked across the street and saw the three older members of the tong waiting for his signal. They had their ski masks ready to slip over their heads to hide their identity. Tojo waited until the right customer rang the bell to the jewelry store's locked front door, and raised the signal to the three gang members that lay in waiting, leaning against two street light poles. His accomplishes rushed to the door of the store behind the customer just as the shop owner buzzed the door open. Tojo wrapped a silk scarf around his face hiding everything below his glasses.

Tojo walked through the door as the largest of his three cohorts smashed open a display case with a small sledge hammer that he had been holding under his belt. The other two gang members brandished knives, making threatening gestures at the shop owner and the quivering woman who had been buzzed in. Tojo groaned at the mess the boy with the hammer had made. He'd managed to completely shatter the display case, sending all of its contents to the floor. The diamond jewelry was now mixed up with all of the pulverized glass that had once been a display fixture. Tojo quickly scooped up a few of the larger rings and quickly pocketed them. Giving the shop owner a wave of his hand, he walked out onto Amsterdam Avenue, followed by the other three youths. They took off in a run, heading uptown on Amsterdam Avenue. Tojo veered off west onto toward the Colombia campus, while the while the other three turned toward the east.

* * *

**Police **inspector John McClane had been working the streets due to the mini crime wave that had hit the store fronts. It was the reported work of a gang of school age punks who had taken to crime. Most of the eye witnesses had described the ring leader of the gang as a well dressed 9 to 11 year old kid with a slight Asian accent. Nobody had gotten a good look at his face because he always wore mirrored sunglasses with large aviator style lenses, and a silk scarf below that. He did have one distinct feature though, his hair had two prominent cowlicks that stuck out at radial angles on either side of his head.

So far the problem had been limited to petty larceny and there hadn't been any violent attacks. He knew that could change in an instant however. So it wasn't unexpected when he received a call on his cellphone alerting him to the jewelry store robbery. McClane wasn't far from the scene, he ran quickly up Amsterdam Avenue and into the jewelry shop whose silent alarm had just gone off. He entered the establishment to find he'd arrived just a bit late to apprehend the perpetrators of the crime. Shards of glass littered the floor where a display case had been smashed open. Diamond jewelry lay on the floor, intermingled with the broken glass.

"What did they get?" McClane asked.

"Not much," the shop owner told him. "Stupid punks. They followed a customer into the shop, smashed the display case and grabbed one or two of the larger settings. They left behind stuff much more valuable."

"Can you describe them?" the inspector asked.

"Punks!" the shop owner said. "Asian teenagers. They were led by a younger kid. Well dressed, wearing mirrored sunglasses. He had this crazy hair."

"Two large cowlicks sticking out?" McClane asked, showing the shop owner a police artist drawing put together by earlier witnesses.

"Yeah, that's him." The shop owner said. "If you hurry you might catch them. I think they were running uptown in the direction of Columbia University.

* * *

**Astro **and Professor Ochanomizu sat on a bench with Doctor Hanamaru. The three of them had spent the day together touring the university and Astro and the professor had sat in on one of the Doctor's classes.

"I'm really impressed by your lectures, Dr. Hanamaru," Ochanomizu said. "You really manage to keep your students interested in what can be a very difficult subject to comprehend."

"Why thank you, Hakase," Hanamaru replied. "All the time that I worked at the Institute, I always had wanted to teach others. I'm actually grateful to Dr. Tenma for giving me the spark I needed to leave."

"If I ever see, Umataro again, I'll tell him you said that." Ochanomizu laughed.

Just as they were about to get up from the bench, a boy just about Astro's size cut though the campus from Amsterdam Avenue, running quickly and nearly bowling over several older men. He ran quickly by and disappeared around the corner of the building behind them.

Several moments later, John McClane turned the same corner, and ran into campus area. He was rotating his head as he ran, grabbing a glance at every person in his path. He spotted Astro and the professor and skidded to a halt. McClane quickly walked up to the three subjects on the bench, and flashed his badge.

"Can I help you, Inspector?" Dr. Hanamaru asked, before McClane could open his mouth.

John took a deep breath to restore his equilibrium. "You!" he said pointing to Astro and reaching into his pocket for a pair of handcuffs.

"Now what do you think you are doing?" Hanamaru said, stepping between the policeman and Astro.

"I'm arresting this kid for felony robbery."

"Really? When did this crime take place."

"About ten minutes ago. An eye witness saw him running in this direction."

"That's hardly likely, since the boy has been here with us all day!" Hanamaru told the policeman.

"And I can vouch for that as well!" Ochanomizu said.

McClane stared at Astro and pulled out police sketch drawing. He held the artwork at arm's length, and compared the boy with the drawing. Except for the glasses, they looked almost identical.

"Well either you two are lying, or the kid has a twin brother." the inspector said, presenting the two men with the police sketch.

Professor Ochanomizu examined the drawing and scratched his head.

"It does bear an uncanny resemblance to Astro here, but I can assure you that this boy isn't the criminal you've been chasing." the professor answered. "We've both arrived from Japan just yesterday to visit your city."

"In that case, I suppose he can't be the one I'm after." McClane sighed. "This person of interest has been identified in several other crimes extending back a few weeks now. I'm sorry to have troubled you." McClane started to walk away, but turned around. "Listen, I need to know where you are staying."

"Still don't really believe us do you?" Ochanomizu replied. He pulled a business card from his wallet and wrote on the back. "Here is my card, and where the boy and I are staying, as well as contact information for the Japanese Science Ministry where I work. You can contact them if you like, they will vouch for me. We'll be here for the rest of the week. Is that OK with you?"

McClane took the card from the professor, quickly looked at it and pocketed it. "Yes, thank you."

The policeman walked away, talking to HQ on his cellphone.

Astro turned to the professor.

"Hakase, you look worried." Astro said.

"More like confused and puzzled, actually, Atom" the professor replied. "That police drawing looked very familiar. I almost feel like I've seen a ghost." He turned to his friend and said "I'm sorry that our visit ended on such a weird note my dear Hanamaru. Atom and I will be taking in the city for the next few days. We'll stop by again before we leave."

"Enjoy your stay, Ochanomizu." the Doctor replied. "And I'm very glad to have finally met you, Astro!"

"I'm happy to have met you, Hanamaru Sensei" Astro said.

* * *

**Tojo** entered the pawn shop on 11th Avenue and waited for the shop owner to recognize him. Jörg Lampe finished counting some loose change and slammed the cash register closed. He looked up at the Asian boy in the mirrored sunglasses and curtly asked, "What do you have for me today?"

Tojo, removed the diamond rings from his pocket and laid them out on the table. "Must be at least 20 carats" Tojo said hopefully.

"We'll see." the shop owner said placing the items on a scale. He picked each one up and held them up the magnifying loupe clamped to his right eye.  
"Not bad quality, but only about maybe 5 carats total. Cheap gold, only 20 or 18 carat" he said. "I'll give you $500 for the lot."

"Cheap bastard!" Tojo said to the fence.

"Take it or leave it." Lampe offered.

"I'll take it." Tojo hissed. "Next time I come here, I'll have something that will make your eyes pop out!"

"Fine." Jörg replied. "If you bring me really good quality stuff, I will pay you better."


	2. Chapter 2

**Dopplegänger**

_II_

**In **another life the boy who now called himself Tojo had been the proud son of a well know scientist and engineer. He had dreamed of becoming a famous inventor of robots, and a scientist. All that had ended because of marital difficulties between his parents, and a near fatal accident that left his father locked up in a mental hospital, and the boy with a troubled mind. Leaving home to live in another country with his mother had been difficult, and starting over in a new school with unfriendly fellow students had only made things worse. He started going by another name, and hung out with an Asian tong that existed among the worst of the schools student population. But the boy was still a genius in his own right, and he hadn't lost his creative talents in technology. He had however turned to the dark side.

**Tojo **had been working on several inventions, and he was nearly finished with two of them, which he hoped to make good use of as early as the next day. His bedroom in the high rise apartment building in Manhattan's more expensive neighborhoods over had a clear view of the Hudson river and the Palisades over in New Jersey. From his bedroom window, he could see the lights of the George Washington bridge in the distance. He knew that his mother had raked his old man over the coals with the new divorce settlement just before they left Japan and moved to New York City. He also knew his old man had little say in the matter, the courts had been in control of his finances after he'd been committed to the loony bin. That's why she had the money to rent the fancy flat. Not bad for two people who had seemed to come back from the dead.

Tojo unlocked the bottom drawer of his desk and removed the nearly completed circuit board. He connected it to the power supply on his work bench and started probing around the circuity with the digital oscilloscope he'd gotten for his last birthday. He connected a programming cable to the board and plugged the other end into a USB socket on his computer. Tojo opened the diagnostic program he'd written and began to adjust the parameters in the non-volatile memory storage of the device. The display on the oscilloscope slowly stabilized and an LED indicator on the circuit board lit solidly to indicate a lock condition. There, he thought, I've finished it. Tojo disconnected the board from the test setup and proceeded to mount it inside the metal box that he'd already drilled to fit it. He installed the rechargeable batteries and plugged a charger into the completed device. Perfect!

The boy spent the rest of the evening working on his second project. This contraction looked like a cross between a plumber's helper and an electric drill. Tojo put on a pair of thick rubber gloves and then opened the bottom drawer again, this time removing a thick plastic jar with a strong stopper. He placed the jar on top of a thick piece of plastic sitting on the work bench. Now he reached under his bed and pulled out a heavy apron and a pair of thick black chemical resistant gloves, which he then donned. He also put on a face shield. It resembled the kind that welders use to protect their eyes, but without the dark glass. Tojo removed the stopper from the jar and poured a measured amount of the liquid it contained into the tank inside of his second invention. As he poured the liquid, a thin cloud of vapor hovered above his work, and then drifted out the open window of the bedroom. He put a cap on the filler opening of the device, and then re-stoppered the jar. After putting the container back into the drawer and locking it, Tojo removed his protective gear and replaced them back under his bed.

The boy opened his camera bag and removed the expensive Nikon digital SLR to access the hidden compartment beneath where the camera had sat, and put both of the devices into it. He replaced the camera in the bag and then put that back in the closet. Tomorrow he'd put the fruits of his labor to work. He wouldn't need any help from the teenage tong gang, and this crime wouldn't be any small potatoes. This would be the big time.

* * *

**Astro **wasn't as excited as the professor was about the museum.

"Why is this museum so famous, Hakase?" Astro asked.

"The American Museum of Natural History is one of the oldest museum of its kind in the world, Astro." Ochanomizu explained. "They have one of the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in existence, a wonderful collection of rare gems, and a truly amazing anthropology department. You can learn quite a bit of the history of this planet from the exhibits in this place. Visiting this museum was one of the reasons I was looking forward to this trip."

They got off the 8th Avenue subway at the 81 Street station, and took advantage of the exit that led directly into the lower level of the museum. The professor paid for their admissions and stopped to look at the map to get his directions.

"I think our first stop will be the Morgan Memorial hall of gems." he professor said. "I've always had a fascination for how gemstones are formed over millions of years. This collection is amazing, I hope you will enjoy it as well. After that we'll go to see the dinosaur fossils, I'm sure you'll enjoy that, Astro."

* * *

**Tojo **had his camera bag with the secret compartment with him. The upper part of the bag contained his Nikon D5 camera, which the museum guard admired briefly before letting him pass. He'd ducked out of school after he'd been seen in his first class, and with any luck he'd be able to sneak back into the school without being noticed as missing. The museum wasn't crowded, he had picked the right time of day for his caper.

The boy entered the Morgan Memorial hall and blended in with the crowd. The exhibit hall was dimly lit to allow one's eyes to get accustomed to the dark, the better to see the fine contrast in the exhibits which were perfectly lit by well placed and well chosen lighting. The part of the exhibit that he was interested in was located in a particularly dark part of the hallway. The valuable gemstones were placed behind thick glass walls, and ultrasonic alarm motion detectors protected the exhibits. Tojo reached into the camera bag and felt under the camera compartment for the switch to his jamming device. The computer controlled sonic disrupter locked onto the alarm frequencies and emitted an equally large, out of phase signal which would cancel out any detection of tampering with the exhibits.

Tojo waited for the few people standing in front of his target to move on, and then when he saw that he was alone and in the shadow, he removed the other device from his bag. He placed the suction cup like end of the tool against the glass, and pulled the trigger on the gun like handle. Silently the device quickly dissolved the glass wall of the display case using the highly concentrated acid he'd filled it with. Tojo put his gloved hand into the display case and removed a handful of the largest gems and slipped them into his pockets. He then put the tool against the hole in the display case and pulled the trigger a second time. The disk of glass that had been removed was re-welded into position by a second application of the acid mixed with a bonding agent. If one looked very carefully the outline of the disk of glass that had been removed and replaced could be seen, but in the darkened exhibit hall the discovery would probably not be made until Tojo was long gone. At least that is what he was hoping for.

**Jay** Rafferty had worked in the museum as a security guard for several years. The security systems installed in most of the more valuable exhibits were quite well known, and few could remember the last time a theft had been attempted in the museum. Jay walked through the Morgan Hall keeping an eye on the patrons of the museum, looking for anything out of the ordinary. The well dressed Asian boy who walked past him with an expensive Nikon camera slung over his neck briefly registered, it was the boy's hair with its two distinctive cowlicks that made an impression in his mind. Rafferty watched the boy walk toward the end of the hall and forgot about him, until the boy brushed past him again exiting the exhibit. He hadn't stayed very long, Rafferty figured he was simply bored and wanted to get over to the dinosaurs, or the planetarium.

**Professor **Ochanomizu and Astro entered the Morgan Hall exhibit and slowly made their way through it. They stood in front of one of the exhibits, the professor taking his time to look at the collection of rubies. Astro stood next to him, trying to look interested.

Tojo retraced his way through the Morgan Hall toward the exit. He noticed the old man and the kid standing next to him. From the back, the boy looked a bit like himself with two similar star shaped cowlicks standing at the back of his head. Tojo suddenly got an idea, he reached into his own pocket and extracted one of the smaller gems he'd just removed from the exhibit case. Using his considerable skills as a pick pocket, Tojo dropped the gem into the boy's jacket pocket without him noticing the act. Tojo then left the exhibit and headed for the museum exit.

Rafferty reached the back of the exhibit hall and was about to turn around and head back to the front when he noticed a strange glint in the light shining on the large exhibit case in the back. He got closer and stared at the contents. After months of working in the Morgan Hall, Jay had become familiar with each of the collections and this one was one of his favorites. He quickly noticed that several of the larger gems were missing from the display. At first he figured that the museum curator must have removed them for study, for no alarm had gone off. He then noticed the barely visible outline of a neat round hole in the glass. Rafferty used his cell phone to call the hot line number that activated a silent alarm. In minutes the police would arrive, along with other members of the museum security. He remembered the boy who had brushed along side of him, the lad had been one of the few people in that part of the exhibit. Rafferty spoke to the security desk, verbally giving them the boys description.

Astro and the professor were now heading for the dinosaur fossils. Several museum security guards ran past them heading toward the Morgan Hall where they had just left.  
"I wonder what's going on Hakase?" Astro asked.

"I don't know, Atom." Ochanomizu replied. "They seem to be heading for the Morgan Hall, but we didn't see anything unusual happening there."

* * *

**The **police and the museum security force put the museum on lock down, sealing all of the exits. They were just a few minutes late with that order as Tojo had already left the museum through the subway exit on the lower level. By the time the theft had been noticed, the boy was already heading uptown on the "C" train.

Astro and the professor were stopped as they neared the museum exit. "I'm sorry," the museum security guard told Ochanomizu, "But there has been a theft and we've locked down the museum. No one can leave until the police give the all clear." Jay Rafferty entered area and looked around at the growing crowd of people near the museum exit. He spotted Astro from behind and noticed how his hair resembled the kid who had quickly exited the exhibit. Rafferty spoke with the guards at the exit and pointed Astro out to them. Two of the then approached the professor. "Sir, would you please come with us?"

Astro and the professor were led to a small room and were told to sit down. Two armed guards sat, one on either side of them.  
"What's going on, Hakase" Astro asked.

"I really don't know, Atom." Ochanomizu said. "It seems they suspect us in the theft. We were in the exhibit that was broken into after all."

* * *

**Inspector **John McClane answered the call to the theft at the museum. He hadn't yet been briefed on what was going on, and was quite surprised when the guards explained that their suspect was a ten year old boy. The head of museum security played back video from a security camera for McClane. The camera had caught the same view of the suspect that that Rafferty had seen leaving the hall of Gems. McClane was then led to the room where Ochanomizu and Astro were being held and was taken back to see them sitting there.

"You again?" McClane said, turning to the professor.

"I'm afraid so." Ochanomizu said. "We see to have this knack at being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Have they been searched?" McClane asked the guards.

"No, we were waiting for the police to show up." the head of museum security told him.

"Very well." McClane said. "OK you two, turn out your pockets and dump the contents on the bench where you are sitting."

The professor sighed, and got up off of the bench. He emptied his pants pockets of his wallet, loose coins, keys, and his cell phone. He then turned out his jacket pockets removing the museum map, packet of chewing gum, and a pack of cough drops.

"OK, now you kid" McClane said.

Astro had nothing in his pants pockets, he turned them inside out to reveal just some lint. He then stuck his hands into his jacket pockets. The left one was also empty, but a large star sapphire fell from the right pocket.

"That's one of the missing items from the display case!" the head of security cried.

"Please put your hands up both of you, and stand still!" McClane demanded. He carefully patted down the professor, and then repeated the exercise on Astro, but he discovered nothing else.

"Well it seems we might have ourselves two accomplices in the crime at least." the inspector said. He removed two pairs of handcuffs from his jacket pocket, and slapped the first pair on the professor, and the second he used to cuff Astro. "I'm taking you two down to the police station. We'll talk some more there."

"Can we remove the lock down now?" the Museum head of security asked.

"Might as well." McClane said. " I have a feeling that the rest of the missing gems are already on the street. What we just found was probably only a diversion."


	3. Chapter 3

**Dopplegänger**

_III_

**Astro **and Professor Ochanomizu sat handcuffed in an interrogation room at the police precinct not far from the Museum of Natural History. The room had a small table in the middle, and several hard, un-cushioned chairs, two of which Astro and the professor now occupied. A slightly better chair with more padding was on the other side of the table, where Inspector McClane sat down. The policeman dropped a laptop computer onto the table and turned it own.

"I really must protest this treatment." Ochanomizu told the inspector. "I have no idea how that gem made its way into Astro's pocket, but he certainly did not break into that display case. The two of us were together the whole time."

"How do I know you're not the mastermind behind this caper?" McClane asked. "This could be a copy cat crime based on the crime wave I was investigating that involved that teenage gang. Perfect alibi because those crimes took place before you were even in the country."

"I already gave you my business card." Ochanomizu told the inspector. "Why don't you can contact the Japanese embassy and get my dossier." He told the inspector. "They will give you enough character reference information on me to shed quite a bit of reasonable doubt that I would perpetrate such a crime."

McClane extracted the card from his wallet to show that he still had it. "I'll do that, of course." He then opened a browser on the computer and navigated to the video from the museum security camera. "Take a look at this." he said turning the computer screen around to face Astro and Ochanomizu. The two of them watched as the suspect hastily walked past the exit of the exhibit. It was only a view of the back of the boy's head, but the two cowlicks he sported were almost a dead match for Astro's.

"I don't think I'd find two kids his age sporting the same hair in the museum on the same day." McClane said. "Unless your son has an identical twin."

A queer look crossed Ochanomizu's face as he watched the feed from the security camera. Astro read the look on his guardian's face. "What's the mater Hakase?" He asked.

The police inspector was also able to tell that the professor was keeping something to himself.

"You know something." he said. "Tell me about it."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." The professor said. "Not without revealing some government secrets that I'm not allowed to divulge to you, without your word that they be kept off the record."

"You know I can't do that." McClane told him. "Until my investigation is complete I can make you no promises that would interfere with it."

"Once I prove to you that we are not involved with this crime would you forget what I would tell you?" Ochanomizu asked.

"I can't promise that at this point either." the inspector said. "But yes, if you are not involved and whatever you tell me proves your innocence, I can keep that off the record."

"Very well then." the professor said. "I guess I'll have to trust you. But first, turn off any recording devices. For now, you'll just have to keep this in your head."

"Very well." McClane said. He removed a pocket audio recorder from his jacket and placed it on the table and turned it off. He then shut down his cell phone and his laptop computer.

"OK, then spill the beans," the inspector said.

"Is this room bugged?" Ochanomizu asked.

Astro looked at the professor and shook his head in the negative. McClane stared at the boy for a moment.

"Very well." Ochanomizu fidgeted for a few seconds before he started speaking.

"First of all, Astro isn't my son." the professor said. "He's not even the ten year old boy that he appears to be."

"What is he a midget?" McClane broke in.

"He's not even a human being." Ochanomizu answered. "He's a highly advanced humanoid android in the form of a male child."

The professor nodded to Astro. The boy unbuttoned his shirt and opened a panel in his chest to reveal the inner workings inside him. McClane's jaw dropped, and the cardboard cup of coffee he was holding hit the floor, spilling what was left of the java.

"He's a robot?" McClane gasped. "I'll be a monkey's uncle!"

"So you see, Astro couldn't have committed those crimes, it would be against his programming."

"Like Asimov's three laws of robotics?" McClane said.

"Actually," Astro interrupted, "Asimov added a fourth law in his later novels."

"Astro was designed and built by the former head of the Japanese Institute of Science." Ochanomizu continued. "Dr. Tenma built him in the image of his nine year old son after the boy lay in a coma after a fatal accident. I always thought it strange that Tenma never really grieved for the loss of his son after the first few days, but then again, he was too occupied with the creation of a robotic replacement for the boy. Unfortunately Astro wasn't a perfect duplicate of his son, something I warned Dr. Tenma would be the case. Tenma rejected his creation, set fire to his laboratory, and trashed his house. He locked Astro up in cold storage in the sub basement of the Institute. Tenma was eventually caught by the police and put into a mental hospital, where he is still being treated. I found Astro years later buried in a storage locker and brought him back on line and adopted him."

McClane drummed his fingers on the table. "There is more to this isn't there? ….."

"Yes, indeed." Ochanomizu said. "This is where it gets tricky. I was Tobio Tenma's godfather. Tobio was of course, Tenma's nine year old son who died in that horrible traffic accident, or at least I thought he had died. Dr. Tenma had told me he had donated his son's body to medical science, which explained why there wasn't a funeral for the boy, only a memorial service. And then, there was the matter of the boy's mother."

"I was going to ask you about that." McClane said.

"Hoshie Tenma divorced Umatara about a year before the boy's accident. Dr. Tenma accepted some draconian financial arrangements in exchange for custody of his son. However, it seems there was a provision in his divorce settlement that if anything happened to the boy, her alimony payments would increase ten fold. After Tobio's accident, with the doctor now mentally incompetent, the courts had no choice but to comply with the deal. Hoshie disappeared after the final divorce settlement. A detective friend of mine thought she had died, but there were rumors that she had secretly left Japan and had moved to America, but for all intents and purposes she had simply vanished into thin air."

The inspector absorbed the professor's story and thought. He reached into his pocket and removed a key, and then unlocked the handcuffs on the professor, and then handed him the key. "You can release the boy from his." he said.

"What's going on?" Ochanomizu asked.

"You're free to go." McClane told him. "Just don't leave the city, you're still a person of interest. I'm going to check some parts of your story."

Ochanomizu looked concerned until McClane replied "Don't worry, Astro's secret is safe with me. I'll make my replies discretely though the Japanese government. I'm more interested in getting details on this Dr. Tenma, Hosie, and of course, Tobio."


	4. Chapter 4

**Dopplegänger**

_IV_

**Jörg** Lampe stared Tojo in the face and demanded, "Where did you get these?"

"I told you I'd bring you something that would make your eyes pop out of their sockets." Tojo said. "Where I got them is none of your concern."

"You stupid kid!" The shop owner yelled, slapping the boy hard enough across his face to leave a mark, "This stuff is so hot that no fence in the city in his right mind would touch it. Who ever broke the museum probably has the feds after them by now. Just how did you think you'd get away with ripping them off, are you crazy? You life won't be worth a plugged nickel!"

"I didn't rip off anybody," Tojo smiled, "That was my heist all by myself."

Lampe's jaw fell open for a moment in disbelief. "You're the museum thief?"

Tojo just nodded his head. Lampe scratched his head. "I can't help you myself, but I do have some connections. I might be able to get you in contact with some, foreign collectors that might be interested in this stuff, for a referral fee of course. Meanwhile, you'd better lay low till this blows over."

"How long?" Tojo asked.

"At least a month." Lampe said.

* * *

**Inspector **McClane spent the bulk of the morning on the phone, and his computer trying to piece together the details of the Professor's story. He'd managed to come up with a detailed dossier for Doctor Umataro Tenma that mostly collaborated the Professor's story. The man had been quite a well respected scientist in the field of robotics, but he had been such a workaholic that he'd allowed his marriage to fall apart. The doctor had managed to retain custody of his only son Tobio after his wife Hoshie had sued for divorce. A year later, the boy was critically injured in a traffic accident. The child lay in a coma for many months and had been transferred to a research hospital, Tenma having signed documents that would allow his son's body to be given to science research. About a year and a half later, Tenma set fire to his laboratory at the ministry of science and trashed his house. He was committed to a mental hospital, and his wife was awarded possession of his estate. Shortly after that Hoshie Tenma simply disappeared, McClane could not find any trace of Tenma's ex wife after that. It was like she had just vanished from the face of the earth.

As for the boy, he could find no death certificate, nor any record of his treatment following several months of his being in the hospital in a coma. He did find records of Tenma's consent for Tobio's body to be donated for research in the event of his death. The signature of a doctor Hazama Kuro appeared on one of the documents, but he was not able to find any information about this person. There the record trail on Tobio Tenma ended, there were no hospital discharge records, no morgue records, nothing. It was as if the boy also had also vanished from existence. The paper trail on Tobio dried up just about the same date as it did for his mother. That fact, and a photograph of the boy bothered McClane. Tobio's photograph as a nine year old resembled his teenage robbery suspects description to a 'T'.

* * *

**Tojo **walked into his bedroom to find the secret compartment in the floor open and its contents missing.

"Looking for these?" Hoshie asked.

The boy turned about to see his mother standing in corner of the room.

"I know what you've been up to." She said. "I defended you at school but I knew the truth. I know who you've been hanging out with, and what you've been spending your money on. That lowlife Lampe spilled his guts when I threatened to turn him over to the police. My son the jewel thief. Has a nice ring to it."

"I don't understand." Tojo said.

"It's rather simple actually." Hoshie laughed. "We've burned though your father's money living in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in New York. While you've been hanging out with the youth tong gangs I've made a few connections of my own. I think I know someone who can put your talents to good use but you'll need to take your directions from me from now on."

"I don't understand." Tojo stuttered.

"What's the matter son, have I surprised you?" Hoshie asked. "After your near fatal accident your father gave you up for dead. He even donated your body to a science research laboratory. I didn't find out about that until our divorce was finally settled. Your father's lawyers did their best to hold up that settlement for as long as they could, and for a while I was in pretty bad financial shape. That's when I hooked up with a Kin Sankaku. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse moving some of his goods between Japan and America. He's one of the largest dealers in gems, both legitimate and otherwise. He used his influence to locate you, and he also had a connection with a high priced doctor that brought you out of the coma. I had to change my identity and fake my death, and in a way your father actually did us a favor by signing those medical documents. The two of us have effectively vanished from the world's eyes without a trace."

The look of astonishment on the boy's face didn't go unnoticed by his mother.  
"That's right son, It seems that we are in this together now." She laughed. "Kin Sankaku needs to talk to you, and you need to listen to him. I'm deeply in debt with him, and perhaps your talents are what will get me out of the little bind I'm it. Things may yet work out just fine for the two of us."

* * *

**Kin Sankaku's **office was located in the middle of some very expensive prime real estate on 5th Avenue just to the west of the diamond district on 47th street. Tojo fidgeted nervously in the elevator which made its way rapidly from the street level to the top of the building.

"Don't say anything except to answer the man's questions." Hoshie snarled at Tojo. "Above all, be polite. This man is well connected with the mob, you don't want to cross him."

"You're afraid of him, aren't you?" Tojo asked his mother.

"Your damned right I am." she replied. "You will enter behind me, and avoid making direct eye contact with him. Look down on the floor if you have to."

Hoshie knocked on the door and waited. "Come in, I've been waiting for you." the voice inside announced. She slowly pushed the door open and entered, Tojo followed slowly behind his mother.

The plush penthouse suite was decorated with some expensive taxidermy heads, all of which were trophies that Kin had brought back with him from various safari trips he'd been on. It was obvious that the man prided himself as a big game hunter, he wore a pith hat and dressed in shorts as if he expected to find himself out on the Savannah upon leaving the building.

The man behind the desk smiled with a mouth full of perfect white teeth. "So I finally get to meet this genius son of yours." He announced. "I hope he is as smart as you bragged."

"What is it you want from him?" Hoshie asked in a soft voice.

"For now, I just want to get to know him, and see what he is capable of." Kin Sankaku replied. "Come here son. I want to talk to you."

Tojo walked confidently up to the desk and leaned against it, resting the palms of both hands on the edge of the ebony top. Hoshie glared at the boy, the expression on her face screamed "show respect!"

Sankaku didn't seem to take any notice of the boy's physical attitude. "Come over to my side of the desk, I want your attention over here," he demanded.

Tojo straightened up and complied. He stood behind Kin Sankaku as the man rotated the computer monitor on his desk toward the boy. "How good are you with on line security systems?" He asked.

"I've hacked my way into a few," the boy said deadpan.

"Steal anything?" Sankaku asked.

"Only information," the boy said. "Though if I had an off shore account to transfer funds into that might have been different."

"Smart." the man said as he started typing on his keyboard. "What do you make of this?" he asked pushing the keyboard and mouse towards where the boy was standing.

Tojo moved closer to the desk and studied the computer monitor screen. He reached for the mouse, and noticed Sankaku motion for him to take it. The boy continued where the man had left off, and quickly had a terminal screen open that scrolled quickly through page after page of encrypted text. He opened another window and began to enter code, creating a small script that he launched. The program immediately bombed and left him with a blank screen. He closed the window opened a new one. He quickly rewrote his hack. This time, the script replicated itself, launching multiple copies faster than the system on the other side could shut them down. While the task he created ran in the background he typed away in another foreground window, and was rewarded with a document that displayed on the screen. Sankaku pushed the boy away from the computer and examined what was now on the screen.

"Good work." He said. "It would have taken me several hours to get this far."

"What am I looking at?" Tojo asked.

"You've hacked into the first layer of a bank security system." Kin Sankaku told him. "Ever hear of Fort Knox?"

"Sure, who hasn't?" the boy smirked. "The US government's legendary gold repository."

"Legendary is probably the right word." the man replied. "These days gold is traded electronically without changing hands, at least most of the time. There are secondary storage caches of the metal all over the country. What most people don't realize is that there is very little of the stuff in Fort Knox these days, its been transferred out to many smaller repositories. One of the largest is right here in NYC, in the main branch of a major bank. We just hacked into their computer system. That document you managed to decrypt has the details of the next transfer of gold between the US and a foreign power. What you are going to do is to gain control of their security systems and make it possible for us to enter the vault and take possession of some of the bullion."

Tojo laughed. "You do realize that gold is heavy."

"We won't have to move it very far." Sankaku said. "Besides, we will have some unwilling help. You will be making sure of that."

"I don't understand." the boy replied.

"Don't worry, you will." Sankaku told him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Dopplegänger**

_V_

**Inspector **McClane didn't like special assignments. He preferred to handle cases of his own choosing rather than being told what to investigate. The assignment at the Chase bank was demeaning to him because he saw it as a baby sitting job. The Manhattan district supervisor had met with his precinct head and then he had been called into his supervisor's office.

"Sit down McClane," the precinct commander told him, pointing to an empty chair. McClane saw that he wasn't the only investigator from the precinct that had been called in. John grumbled to himself, but he sat down and tried to put on a look of respect for authority, which for him was a bit of an acting job.

"Now that McClane has honored us with his presence we can begin," the commander said. "It seems that the feds are in the middle of a sizable transfer of gold bullion between the US and some unnamed power in the middle east. Normally this kind of thing takes place on paper and the physical bullion stays put in some third party location. Most of you probably think that the US gold reserve lies in Fort Knox, but these days the stuff is scattered about and kept in several smaller locations. You could say the Feds are no longer keeping all their golden eggs in one basket anymore. The transfer will take place sometime next week, the exact time is being kept secret until the last minute. The location has been revealed to only a few trusted officials, and since the NYCPD has been requested to assist with security a few members of the force, myself included, know the location. I'm putting Inspector McClane in charge of this operation, the rest of you will be taking orders from him. Congratulations John, your reputation for getting things done has earned you this assignment."

"Great!" McClane muttered aloud.

"Show some enthusiasm McClane," The command replied, "It will come in handy working with the Feds. OK, everyone but McClane are dismissed. John stick around for a few more minutes, someone from the bureau wants to meet with us."

The rest of the investigators left the room, leaving McClane and the commander alone. About thirty seconds after the group had departed the door opened again and a tall man in a dark suit entered. He flashed a badge as he introduced himself.

"I'm special agent Lewis Erskine," he announced, "and this must be the infamous John McClane."

"At your service." McClane grumbled offering a handshake.

"Why don't we get down to business?" The commander offered, "I'm sure McClane would rather be out on the street doing his job as soon as possible."

"Got that right." McClane smiled.

Agent Erskine opened the thin attache case he'd been carrying and withdrew a small folder from it. He set that on the desk and opened it, revealing a black and white 8x10 photograph. "Ever seen this character?" he asked handing McClane the picture.

John McClane starred at the photograph for a few seconds. It was short Asian man wearing glasses and a pith hat, with a cigarette holder clenched between his teeth.

"No, can't say that I've ever run into this guy," the inspector finally announced, handing the photo back to the FBI agent. "Who is he?"

"His name is Kin Sankaku. We've suspected for some time that he is involved in the Korean Mafia, but we've never proven that. We do know that he is an art dealer with a shady past, we've almost nailed him multiple times on dealing with stolen art, he has an Interpol file a mile long."

"So what does he have to do with this gold shipment this precinct has been volunteered to baby sit?" McClane questioned.

"Homeland Security has picked up some internet traffic out of Korea suggesting that a sleeper cell may be involved in trying to intercept the gold transfer," Erskine answered. "Sankaku's name was found in several of the messages."

"What, in the clear?"

"No, we've managed to partially crack their code."

"You got any more intel on this guy?" John asked.

Erskine opened his case and extracted a thin portfolio. "Here study this," He said. "This file contains all the background info we've got on Sankaku, and some photographs taken during recent surveillance stakeouts on him by HLS and the bureau."

McClane took the folder back to his office and opened up his laptop computer. He started a search of various national and international police databases for Sankaku, and while his inquires were running he flipped though the dossier portfolio that the FBI agent had given him. He didn't recognize anyone that appeared with Sankaku in first dozen photographs and was nearly to the bottom of the pile when his jaw dropped. In the last two photos Sankaku was caught talking to a petite Asian woman dressed in black. McClane opened up another window on the Macbook and recalled the search he'd done a few days ago on Dr. Tenma and his estranged wife Hoshie. He compared the slightly blurry face in the photograph with that of Hoshie's image in the Tokyo police database. There was no doubt in his mind, she was the woman in the photograph with Sankaku.

* * *

**Professor **Ochanomizu felt the cellphone in his pocket buzzing and he fished it out from beneath the contents of the pocket. Looking at the screen, he sighed, but pressed the icon to answer the phone.

"Yes Inspector, what can I do for you now?" Ochanomizu asked.

From across the hotel room, Astro noticed his guardian with the phone held against his ear and a sour look on his face. He increased the amplification on his ears so he could overhear both sides of the conversation, which didn't last very long.

"Come on Astro," the Professor said with a sorry voice. "It seems we are wanted down at the police station, that Inspector McClane has some more questions for us."

"I suspect he wants to talk to you more than me." Astro said reaching for his jacket.

"You overheard what he was saying."

Astro just nodded his head with a sly smile.

They took a cab in the downtown direction towards the police precinct. The professor walked slowly up the steps from the sidewalk to the entrance of the building with Astro following closely behind him. They walked up a desk in the front lobby of the building and a woman desk Sargent looked down at them.

"We're here to meet with an Inspector McClane." Ochanomizu told her.

She flipped though a pile of papers on the desk before responding. "He's waiting for you," She said pointing towards a hallway, "Third door on the left. Just knock and walk in."

They did as they were instructed. McClane was sitting at a desk, his face hidden behind the screen of a 17" Macbook. "Take a seat." he told them, pushing the laptop to the side.

"We caught a cab as soon as I got off the phone with you, inspector." Ochanomizu said. "What was so important."

"Since we last met I was doing some research on this Dr. Tenma and his wife." McClane said. "I didn't manage to turn up anything on her whereabouts, at least not until this morning."

He pulled the last two photographs from the FBI folder and handed them to the professor. "These two photos were taken a few days ago by a surveillance team from the HLS department," he said.

Ochanomizu looked at the two images quickly and handed them back. "Where were those taken?"

"In this city." McClane replied. "I assume that is Hoshie Tenma."

"Yes, that is her." Ochanomizu said, "So it appears that she isn't dead, and the rumors of her leaving Japan for America were true, she certainly has aged since I last saw her. Why would your HLS people be trailing her?"

"They weren't." McClane answered. "The man in the photo was their subject of interest. He is suspected of being tied in with the Korean Mafia, and for that reason HLS was keeping track of his whereabouts. The man is a known dealer in stolen artwork. It shouldn't take you very long to put two and two together and figure out what seems to be going on."

"You think that her son is alive and living here in NYC?" Ochanomizu asked.

"That would explain Astro's Dopplegänger wouldn't it?" McClane answered.

Astro's face took on a look of surprise. "What is he talking about Hakase?" he asked.

The professor got up from his chair and walked over to the door of the office. He closed it, and flipped the lock on the doorknob.

"Is this room bugged?" he asked.

Astro swiveled his head from side to side. "No Hakase, it isn't" he announced.

The inspector leaned closer to his two guests. "OK, what's going on?" he asked.

"This is for Astro's ears, and to confirm your suspicions." Ochanomizu said.

"Astro, you do know that doctor Tenma built you to replace his son Tobio after the boy suffered a fatal accident. I was Tobio's godfather, and I knew Umataro and Hoshie Tenma for a long time, I met them before they were married when he and I first started working at the science ministry."

Astro nodded his head and looked into the professors eyes.

"Umataro and Hoshie separated and were divorced when Tobio was maybe seven years old." Ochanomizu continued. "I never saw Hoshie after that, except when I was called in as a character witness during her divorce settlement hearing. I was told that Tobio's body had been donated to the ministry's science lab, but I never did find out what happened to him. In fact, I wasn't actually sure that the boy had ever been declared legally dead. Inspector Towashi once told me he'd uncovered some evidence that Hoshie might had left Japan with a child in her custody. I always wondered about that."

"You mean that Tobio is alive?" Astro asked.

"That seems to be what is going on here," McClane said. "This Tobio, who now seems to be going by the name Tojo, must be the juvenile thief I've been after that you were mistaken for. The only thing is, that museum heist was the work of a genius mind. The way that alarm system was countermanded, and the display case broken into, that was no amateur job."

"Dr. Tenma was a genius," the professor said. "and his son was a chip off the old block. The boy used to take robots apart and put them back together again, better than new. I hate to say this, but he would have been perfectly capable of masterminding that museum job. I just can't see him turning to crime though, he was such a sweet innocent boy."

"Maybe he changed as a result of that accident?" Astro asked.

"That is possible." the professor agreed, "He had been in a coma for quite some time, perhaps he suffered from some brain damage that changed his personality."


	6. Chapter 6

**Dopplegänger**

_VI._

**Kin **Sankaku took a deep drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke towards Tojo and Hoshie. "One of the secrets to my success is being one step ahead of the law." He explained, tapping the ashes from his fag into an ashtray. "I have a few well placed members of the NYCPD in my employ, shall we say, and they let me know what's going on before it actually happens. Information of this kind doesn't come cheaply, but it would be far more expensive to me if I did NOT have it."

"So that's how you knew about the gold shipment?" Tojo asked, coughing from the cigarette smoke.

"Yes, my connections tipped me off as to what was going to happen, but not how." Sankaku replied, "but once I knew what I needed to look for it was easy enough to hack into the various computer systems to get that information, as you yourself already discovered."

"There's still no way we are going to empty that vault." Tojo replied, "even if I can disable the security systems. You're talking about several tons of material."

"Yes, but it seems that you've brought us a little luck in that regard." Sankaku laughed.

"I don't understand." the boy replied.

"Your little museum caper made the news big time." Sankaku explained. "The police have had a vague description of you from your foolish strong arm robberies with that tong gang you've been hanging with. Only they seem to have mistaken someone else for you. My police informant let me know who they had called in for questioning, someone well know in our native land."

"Who?"

"A professor Ochanomizu of the Ministry of Science."

"What does he have to do with this?" Tojo asked.

"It means that Astro Boy is in NYC with him." Sankaku replied. "We are going to lay a little trap for the pompous professor. Once we have him as our guest we will be able to convince Astro to help us move that gold. There is an abandoned subway tunnel under the bank that leads to the river. Many years ago a project to tunnel from Manhattan to Staten Island was abandoned as being too expensive, but a subway line that would have linked up to that tunnel had already been partially bored. That subway tunnel was sealed up when the crossing under the river was abandoned, but we can break into it and use it to transport the gold out of there. I've got a small truck that will fit inside that tunnel, we only need to break through into the bank and carry out the gold. That's something that Astro would have no difficulty doing for us. He will be more than happy to help us, in order to insure the safety of his guardian."

* * *

**Tojo **waited outside of the hotel standing by the entrance to the IRT subway. He took another drag on the cigarette that he had secreted from the silver box on Kim Sankaku's desk. Coughing a bit from the tobacco smoke which he wasn't quite used to yet, he dropped the half burned fag onto the street and extinguished it with the sole of his shoe. He checked his watch again to make sure of the time. The old professor had made a ritual of leaving the hotel every morning to grab breakfast at the Japanese restaurant across the street from the hotel. It was fairly obvious that the reason this Ochanomizu had chosen this particular hotel was because of the restaurant just across the narrow street to the north of it. He'd never seen the robot kid accompany the old man into the eatery, which made some sense, robots don't need to eat. Finally, after he'd been standing next to the subway kiosk for nearly a half hour he spotted his prey crossing the street. Tojo pressed the call button on his cell phone. He'd done his part of the job for now.

**The** Professor opened the door and walked in. As usual, Higeoyaji ushered him over to a table near the window right away. "Good morning Mustachio," Ochanomizu replied.

"The usual coming right up," the short, nearly bald headed man joked, setting a cup of steaming hot green tea on the table in front of the professor. "So how much longer are you going to be in NYC?" he asked.

"Astro and I were going to leave tomorrow, but somethings come up." The professor replied. "What about you?"

"My brother was released from the hospital yesterday." Higeoyaji replied. "He expects to come back to work in two weeks. I'll stick around until he can handle the place full time, then I'll return to Tokyo."

"He's lucky to have such a good sibling." Ochanomizu replied. "How did he come to America anyway?"

"That's a long story that I'll have to tell you sometime." Mustachio laughed. "The short version is simple, he fell in love with an American tourist and the two of them agreed to live together in New York. He always wanted to operate a restaurant, and it was actually easier to start a successful Japanese style one in New York than in Tokyo. So he stayed, even after he split up with her."

"Yeah, it's easier to immigrate to America than it is to Japan." Ochanomizu laughed.

"Well my brother never really gave up his Japanese citizenship." Higeoyaji said, handing the professor a large bag. "Here's your order, take out as usual."

"I'd eat it here, but I feel guilty leaving Astro by himself for that long." the professor said.

"He doesn't mind and you know that." Mustachio replied. "I bet he's busy playing some video game on the cable TV."

"That he is." Ochanomizu laughed, as he headed for the door. "I'll be back later."

The professor exited the restaurant and started walking toward the cross walk. He pressed the button for the walk signal, even as many of the native New Yorkers simply J walked across the red signal. Ochanomizu laughed, he couldn't get over how different this city was from Tokyo where the locals usually obeyed the traffic signals religiously.

The walk signal turned green just as a large stretched Cadillac limo stopped just in front of the crosswalk. The right front doors of the automobile quickly opened and two burly men in perfectly fitted and pressed suits jumped out and grabbed the professor, pulling him into the car. The automobile quickly ran through the red signal, making a right turn heading in the uptown direction.

**Higeoyaji **just happened to notice the professor's abduction out of the corner of his eye though the window of the restaurant. He ran out into the street and ran after the automobile. Traffic was just heavy enough to allow him to catch up to it long enough to read the vehicle's tag numbers, and he quickly dialed the police and reported the incident. He then remembered Astro was alone up in the hotel. Mustachio then called the hotel and asked for the professor's room. The phone rang twice before the boy robot answered it.

"Hakase?" Astro asked, picking up the phone.

"No Astro it's me, Mustachio"

"Hi teacher! I didn't know you were in New York."

"That's another story, Astro." Higeoyaji replied. "Ochanomizu Hakase was just here picking up his breakfast when several men in a black limo grabbed him and forced him in their car. I've already called the police and given them the plate number, 773-ART".

"Thank's Teacher, I'll ought to go out and look for the car with that plate number." Astro replied.

"I don't know if it would be a good idea for you to go flying around NYC, Astro. You're kind of a big secret you know."

"Yeah, that's true." There was a clicking on the line and then a buzz. "I think I've got another call coming in." Astro said. "Hold on."

Astro clicked the switch hook on the phone and the call waiting replaced Higeoyaji with someone else.

"Hello Astro," a strange voice greeted him. "I've got a friend of yours with me who'd like to talk to you." A few seconds later, Professor Ochanomizu's voice came on the line.

"Astro it's me."

"Where are you Hakase? Are you alright?"

"It seems I'm being taken for a ride by a bunch of goons. They haven't told me what they want from me, but I suspect they want something from you."

"That's enough" a voice in the background said as the phone was grabbed away from the professor and another voice came on the line.

"OK Astro now you know that I have the professor in my company. He'll be treated with respect for now, but if you don't agree to help me you won't see him in such good health again."

"You better not hurt him or I'll hunt you down!" Astro snarled.

"Now, now, there's no need for that." the voice on the phone answered. "Please be at Grand Central Station in an hour. Just walk into the large open common area and stand there. Someone will contact you. Oh, and please do not tell anyone where you are going, especially the police. This little business is just between the two of us." 'Click.' The phone went dead. Astro clicked on the switch hook several times.

"Astro?" Mustachio's voice came back.

"You're still there, teacher?" Astro asked.

"Yes, the line never hung up." he said. "Did the kidnappers call you?"

"Yes teacher, they want to meet with me or they won't let Hakase go! They told me not to tell anybody where I was going, especially the police!"

"Astro, kidnappers always say that!" Mustachio replied. "You know I was a detective. I can help."

"I guess so." Astro sobbed. "If I tell you please don't call the police!"

"I'm not sure that's the best idea, but I agree. Tell me where you have to meet them."

"They said to be in the large common area at Grand Central Station in an hour and they would find me." Astro replied.

"Very cagey of them." Mustachio answered, "Meeting in a large crowded place. I'll get there before you and stake the place out. Do you know how to get there?"

"I'm not too sure."

"Just take the subway to 42 street. You can get into the station from the subway exit underground."

"OK teacher thanks!"

"Don't worry Astro. Everything will be just fine. We'll get Ochanomizu Hakase back."


	7. Chapter 7

**Dopplegänger**

_VII._

**Mustachio **hid his face behind a copy of the New York Times opened to the international section. He periodically glanced around looking for suspects. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw Astro entering the station's main plaza, but then realized that he was seeing his ghostly double. "Tobio?" he gasped silently to himself.

Tojo entered the station wearing a pair of aviator style mirrored sunglasses. He ignored the no smoking signs and took a few puffs on a cigarette before dropping the fag to the ground to extinguish it under his shoe. The Asian boy didn't have very long to wait as Astro entered the plaza via the passageway from the Lexington Avenue subway line. Tojo recognized the boy robot immediately by his dark pointy cowlicks that were a remarkable copy of his own auburn locks. "We finally meet." he muttered to himself as he took a long route towards Astro to sneak up on him from behind.

"Don't turn around!" Tojo said holding a blunt object against Astro's back. "I wouldn't want to have to injure you."

Astro didn't turn his head, he'd already spotted Mustachio standing in the crowd between a newsstand and a ticket booth. "Ochanomizu Hakase had better not be harmed or you'll be the one injured!" Astro replied.

"Listen, Astro." Tojo said, "I've got an EMP pistol held against you so don't try any heroics or I'll drop you right here! Your Professor is quite fine, in fact at this moment he should be enjoying a nice snack courtesy of Mr. Sankaku. Now please just turn about and head back toward the IRT subway entrance. I'll be right behind you with this little robot taser on a hair trigger, so don't make any sudden moves."

Astro nodded his head and slowly turned to head back the way he had come. Higeoyaji rolled up his newspaper and stuffed it into his jacket pocket and followed the two boys, being careful to keep just far enough back to remain unnoticed.

* * *

**The **platform of the 42 Street-Grand Central station of the IRT Lexington Avenue line was crowded, despite the 90 second headway between arriving express trains. Astro stood just behind the movable metal platform extensions, as the PA speakers continuously warned passengers to stand clear of the moving platforms. The headlamps of an arriving uptown express train illuminated the rails which reflected the light upwards into Astro's eyes. He felt Tojo jab him in the back with the EMT gun as a reminder, just as the train started to brake. The two boys found themselves standing exactly in front of a set of doors as the eleven car train squealed to a halt. The metal grates of the platform extension moved a foot and a half forward to close the gap between the subway train an the curved platform, just a split second before the doors opened. In typical New York style, most of the passengers waiting for the arriving train didn't wait for those on board to get off before trying to barge their way in. Astro was more courteous and waited for the out going crowd to thin out before making his way into the train, followed by his dopplegänger. Mustachio waited to see which car the two boys got onto before boarding the one behind them. He made his way to the 'storm door' between the two cars and monitored them though the window from the southern car.

Astro was too short to reach the strap hanger attached to the ceiling of the car, so he held onto one of the upright poles. Tojo braced himself against the trains lurching by spreading his legs for a wider stance. The express train quickly picked up speed, flying past several local stations before entering the 59th street station. Tojo pulled Astro toward the doors and took a half step out of the train. Mustachio quickly made a move to exit his car, but didn't see the boys on the platform. Too late, he realized he'd been faked out. Tojo pulled Astro back into the train just as the doors closed. Mustachio tried to put his arm between the closing panels of the door to get back into the train, but didn't have the strength. Rather than risk being smeared against the walls of the tunnel, he gave up on the idea of hanging onto the outside of the train. As the next to last car started to pass by him, he noticed that the buffer gates between the last two cars were damaged, leaving a sizable gap. The agile Tokyoite detective took a flying leap, and manged to wedge himself between the cars. Holding on to the edges of the car, he got a foothold onto the small platform just outside the storm door of the next to last car. He grabbed the handle to open the door, and entered the train with a great sigh of relief.

Higeoyaji was now four cars behind his subjects, and he ran quickly though the crowded train to reach the car where the two boys were riding. "Sumimasen" he repeated each time he bumped into someone in his haste to reach the middle of the train before the next station. The train was now slowing down as it approached the 86th street station. Once again Tojo pulled Astro towards the door, only this time the two of them ran though the turnstiles and headed toward the street. Mustachio followed them panting heavily, trying to catch his breath.

**Tojo **led Astro into an office building on 86th street, about a half a block west of Lexington Avenue. They took an elevator up to the top floor of the building and entered an office suite. The complex was barren, with few desks or any of the usual office furniture one might expect in such a place. There were quite a few computers however, several dozen high powered rack mounted IBM blade servers, and a number of 17" screen laptops.

"You any good at hacking?" the boy asked Astro.

"I've got a computer brain you know." the boy robot answered.

"Well DUH!" Tojo sneered. "but are you any good at code breaking?"

"Never tried." Astro replied.

"Doesn't matter." Tojo answered, "I'm good enough. You're only the brawn of this project anyway."

"What do you want from me, and more important, where is Ochanomizu Hakase?" Astro demanded.

"If you thought I was going to bring you to where we've got the professor sacked you're dumber than I thought." Tojo told Astro. He walked over to one of the laptops and quickly moved the mouse and typed some commands onto the keyboard. A Skype like connection opened up, and Professor Ochanomizu's face appeared on the screen. Astro moved in front of the laptop.

"Astro, where are you?" the professor asked. "Are you OK?"

Astro could see from the professor's face in the web cam view that he was unharmed. "I'm OK, Hakase. I thought I was being taken to see you, but not directly I guess."

Tojo pushed Astro away from the computer, and looked into the web cam. "Both of you will be fine, at least if Astro cooperates with us." the boy told the professor. He shut down the video link. "Mr. Sankaku will be here soon and he'll explain exactly what we want you to do. In the meanwhile, you need to study these blueprints."

Tojo opened up a PDF file he and Kin Sankaku had assembled from documents stolen from the federal computer networks. "Memorize these maps and plans." Tojo told Astro. "You'll need to know the layouts of the underground passageways when the time comes." He pushed Astro into a chair in front of the computer. "I'll be back soon. Don't even think of trying anything, this room is monitored and I'll know if you move from this spot. So will Sankaku-San, and that won't be good for your Hakase!"

Astro pushed the computer mouse around as he scrolled though the documents. The blueprints covered several different layers of a vast underground network of railroad tunnels, passageways, water viaducts, steam pipes, and wiring conduits. It was a civil engineer's nightmare, New York City's secret underground infrastructure. It didn't take Astro very long to discover what Tojo and his boss were interested in. The network of tunnels that comprised existing tracks of the subway system, and unused tunnels never put into service, one of which linked up with the river and the sub-sub-sub basement of a bank vault somewhere in the midtown area. It didn't take a genius to figure out what these clowns had in mind. Astro memorized every detail of the plans. He wanted to get on line and try and dig up more details of the area outside of the scope of the blueprints, but he didn't dare get caught doing so. Ochanomizu's life could be in jeopardy if was caught.

* * *

**Higeoyaji **ran up the stairs from the subway and emerged into the squalid sunlight that filtered down between the tall buildings on either side of Lexington Avenue. He looked up and down the street but didn't immediately spot which way the two boys had run. He ran towards 86th Street and quickly looked east and west along the two way thoroughfare. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw Astro's cowlicks on the back of the head of a figure entering a building about halfway up the block to his west. He ran towards the building but by the time he got there the boys had already taken an elevator upstairs. He had now clue as to what floor, the elevator made several stops on the way up, they could have gotten off anywhere. As much as he didn't like the idea, he realized it was time to contact the police.

**Inspector **McClane was sitting in the back of the squad car being driven downtown from a meeting up in The Bronx. He wasn't used to not driving his own unmarked car, being chauffeured around in a common squad vehicle seemed degrading to him, but the captain had insisted. The FBI had set up the meeting way uptown to avoid suspicion, now he was heading back to his own precinct to finalize the arrangements for guarding the gold transfer tomorrow.

Mustachio walked down 86th street heading back to the subway when he spotted the police car heading south on Lexington Avenue. He ran into the street in the path of on coming traffic to wave down the squad car like a taxi cab. The policeman driving the vehicle slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting the Tokyoite. McClane rolled down his window and stuck his head and shoulders though it. "Hey old man, are you nuts?" he yelled.

"I need police help!" Mustachio said between breaths. "A good friend of mine visiting this city was kidnapped a few hours ago. I've been trailing the suspect, but lost him in a building just west of here on 86th street."

"Not a good idea trying to intervene yourself in such matters." McClane told Mustachio.

"Well I'll have you know that I'm a rather good detective myself, back in Tokyo," Higeoyaji barked back, "and Professor Ochanomizu is a very good friend of mine, so I had to do something."

McClane's jaw dropped for a moment. "Did you say Ochanomizu? Now what has that guy got himself into now?" he muttered out loud.

"You know the professor?" Mustachio asked.

"He was a person of interest in a recent museum heist." McClane said. "Seems a robot kid he brought with him is a dead ringer for the prime suspect."

Now it was Mustachio's turn to be shocked. "I was just trailing Astro and Tobio here!" he exclaimed.

McClane quickly put the facts together and got a sinking feeling in his gut. "Get in the car!" he ordered, kicking the door open. Mustachio climbed in next to the inspector. "Head west on 86th street!" McClane told his driver, NOW!"

The squad car made a bat turn and headed the half block north going the wrong way against traffic and made a turn onto 86th. "That's the building!" Mustachio said, pointing upward.

McClane yanked out his cellphone and called into the precinct. "I need you to look up an address and see if there is any connection with a Kim Sankaku," the inspector barked. He then turned to his driver. "Take us back to the precinct."


	8. Chapter 8

**Dopplegänger**

_VIII_

**Inspector **McClane pushed a chair over to Mustachio. "OK, sit down and spill the beans." He said sternly. "What do you know about Astro and Tobio!"

"First of all," Mustachio said, "Tobio is dead. That boy I saw with Astro must be a look a like. When I saw him the first thing that came into my head was that it was Dr. Tenma's deceased son with Astro, but that makes no sense."

"That's what I was told too." McClane replied, "but the results of my investigation seem to lead the facts in a different direction." The inspector pushed a photograph towards the Tokyoite. "Do you recognize this woman?"

Mustachio stared at the photograph in disbelief. "That's Dr. Tenma's late wife Hoshie."

"Who's very much alive." McClane said. "I was able to uncover her trail from Japan to America. She's involved with a known international art thief named Kin Sankaku who I'm now trailing for another reason. And now you just tied Astro and her son together. It sounds to me like the professor's kidnapping was a means of getting hold of Astro. But why?"

"How much do you know about Astro?" Mustachio asked.

"The professor told me he's and advanced robot." McClane said. "He's certainly human enough to fool most people into believing that he's not a robot."

"That's all?" Mustachio asked.

"Well, also that the kid was some kind of national secret. I gave the old man my word that I wouldn't reveal his existence on my official reports, if he wasn't involved in any crime."

"Yeah, well I guess I'll have to tell you just how secret Astro is." Mustachio sighed. "I know who this Kin Sankaku is, and he's one of many criminals in Japan whose plans have been foiled by Astro."

"The kids worked with the Tokyo police?"

"Let's say he's done some of the work that they should have."

"Astro's a vigilante?"

"No, I wouldn't call him that." Mustachio laughed. "But he is a kind of superhero."

"Don't make me laugh," McClane said, "You mean like Robin the boy wonder?"

"No, more like Superboy," Mustachio said.

"What, he can fly and bend steel bars in his bare hands?"

"As a matter of fact, yes he can!" Mustachio said. "Astro is powered by a 100,000 horse power miniature nuclear reactor. He's armed with laser cannons and machine guns. He could lift a skyscraper off the ground. The kid is a one man army, when you get down to it."

McClane's jaw dropped, along with the cup of coffee he'd been holding on to. "Oh my God!" he face palmed. "I think I know what Sankaku's up to!"

"Perhaps you'd better fill me in." Mustachio said. "I used to be a detective in my younger days in Tokyo. Two of my best friends are involved in this caper of yours, I want to help."

"OK, now I'm going to have to have you swear to keeping this secret." McClane said. He locked the door to his office and pulled down all of the window shades. "I've been put in charge of a task force that is in charge of security for a federal gold transfer that takes place tomorrow. They are using the facilities of a local bank to cover this up. Ever since 9/11 the US government has kept huge parts of the national gold reserve outside of the usual expected places such as Fort Knox. They've made secret deals with many private banks to enlarge their vaults, or create new ones deep under the existing ones. Recently a sizable shipment of bullion has been placed in a downtown bank for delivery to a foreign power. I couldn't find anything wrong with the security, but yet something was bugging me."

"You think Kin Sankaku is moving up in the world to try and heist this?" Mustachio laughed.

"Can you think of a better reason why he'd mastermind the kidnapping of your professor friend?"

"How do you know it was him?" Mustachio' asked.

"First of all the Fed's found his name mentioned in a communication they intercepted from some Korean terror cell they've been keeping tabs on. The Fed's know this cell has been after gold shipments, and so far they've been able to distract their attention. The FBI has been keeping a tail on Sankaku and they've got at least one photograph of him and Hoshie meeting in the street. Then there was this museum heist that the kid pulled off. Finally, Ochanomizu's kidnapping and the fact that Astro is a dead ringer for this Tojo kid, who we now know is Hoshie's son who's very much alive. Now take a look at this."

McClane looked around by instinct before accessing his computer. He brought up a schematic of part of the downtown area and zoomed. "Here are the plans for the bank where the gold shipment is stored. Not in the vault that the customers would see, but here."

The detective clicked on the mouse to access a second page. "Several stories under the bank, deep underground is a secret vault that isn't on any official blueprints. The police and fire departments don't know of its existence, these plans are only in the federal record."

"You think Kin Sankaku knows about this?" Mustachio asked.

"I'm sure of it." McClane said. "The feds think that their database has been hacked into. They can't prove it, but they're worried enough to increase security. That's my headache. This Tojo kid, he's been in trouble before hacking into computers. I've uncovered his handiwork checking into that museum robbery. Just how do you think he knew how to disable their alarm system?"

"That part makes sense." Mustachio said. "Tobio was a genius working with robots, a real chip of the old block."

"I've saved the best part for last." McClane said. He clicked on the mouse, and typed on his keyboard. A second set of plans appeared and he overlaid them on top of the first.

"This is part of the uncompleted subway extension that was abandoned years ago." The Inspector said. "Notice how this tunnel goes right under the bank. It connects to another tunnel that leads toward the Hudson river. They were going to connect the Manhattan subway with either the Staten Island system, or the Path, but it never happened."

Mustachio watched as McClane zoomed the view in. "It would still take a tunnel boring machine to make the connection between the bank vault and that abandoned tunnel, but if you did break though with a connection, you'd be able to make off with the bullion via the river." McClane said.

"Yeah, but that gold is heavy." Mustachio said "It would take a small army to carry it."

"Or a small, robot with 100,000 HP." McClane answered.

* * *

**Astro **sat in the back of the deuce and a half truck. He was blindfolded and his arms and legs were bound by heavy chains. "You sure that robot won't break free?" Kin Sankaku asked Tojo.

"I doubt it." the Asian boy replied. "He knows what will happen to Ochanomizu Hakase if he causes us any trouble. Besides, those restraints are highly magnetized. Their magnetic field is strong enough to upset his motor controls. He's not going anywhere till I release him."

"Very well." Sankaku replied, looking at his watch. "It's almost time. I hope we can keep on schedule."

The army surplus M35 truck entered the mouth of the tunnel and and headed east. "According to the blueprints we'll be able to go a few miles before the passageway gets too narrow to allow us to turn around and reverse course." Tojo told Kim. "We'll have to drive backwards for about a mile, and then walk the rest of the way."

It took them about an hour to reach the point where the tunnel was too narrow to go any further. The last twenty minutes were spent creeping along in reverse. Tojo had pulled the blindfolds off of Astro's head and ordered him to light the way using his eye searchlights. Astro grumbled, but obeyed out of fear for Ochanomizu's well being.

Tojo carried an iPad which he had loaded with the data from the blueprints they had stolen. He carried a high powered location receiver that could pick up the signals from certain government satellites even this far underground. Astro followed behind the boy, his hands still bound together by the magnetic manacles. Sankaku followed behind him carrying an EMP gun which he kept aimed at Astro's head. They walked for another ten minutes when Tojo stopped and carefully looked around him for land marks. He examined the tracking device that he had built, and cross checked its data with the information he'd stored on the iPad. "This is the spot." He told Sankaku. About 200 yards to the north, and then straight up for a few hundred more."

"Very good." Sankaku said. "OK Astro, you know what to do. We're going to release you from those magnetic constraints and you're going to tunnel up into the vault. Don't try anything funny."

"Wait a second." Tojo said, walking towards Astro. "Open your chest panel."

Astro reluctantly complied. Tojo reached inside of Astro's chest and grabbed at the cabling to his central nervous system. He inserted a small device into Astro and attached it to one of the cables leading to Astro's optical cortex. "This little gizmo will tap into your vision. Everything you see will be relayed to my iPad here." Tojo explained.

"Excellent!" Kin Sankaku said rubbing his hands together.

"I'll be able to talk to you as well, without anyone else hearing the conversation." Tojo told Astro. "This transceiver is wired directly into your electronic brain." The Asian boy removed a key from his rear pocket and unlocked Astro from the handcuffs.

Astro flew upwards to the ceiling of the tunnel. He clawed at the roof with his hands and dug while propelling himself forward using his leg jet engines. Like a tunnel boring machine he drilled his way into the bedrock and quickly disappeared from sight, though his progress was obvious from the sound and the pulverized rock that flew out of the opening in the ceiling he'd created.

Astro lit up his searchlight eyes so that Tojo and Sankaku could see the result of his labor on the boys tablet computer. It took the boy robot only a few minutes to reach the hardened steel floor of the vault. Astro used his digibeam finger tip laser to burn a hole though the chrome steel and popped his head up though the opening. The inside of the vault was dark except for the powerful beams of light from Astro's eyes which reflected a golden color back.

"YES!" Sankaku cried out. "He's done it!"

"OK, Astro." Tojo relayed though the iPad. "Start carrying the gold bars down here and load up the back of the truck."

A few minutes later Astro returned carrying the first load of solid gold bars. Tobio watched Astro's every movement on the tablet computer. Astro flew down down tunnel toward where the truck was sitting and put the load of bullion down neatly in the bed of the truck. The springs on the vehicle hardly gave way, but this was only the first layer of cargo. "Are you sure that truck will carry the load?" Tojo asked.

"I've had the suspension reworked, the transmission modified, and special tires filled with nitrogen mounted." Sankaku replied. "It will be able to carry as much gold as I require. We'll probably leave some behind, but that doesn't matter."

Astro returned and re-entered the vault to pick up a second load. He quickly returned with another armful of bars and laid them down in the truck on top of the first load.

"Looks like he'll be finished in under an hour." Sankaku said, looking at his watch. "We'll be ahead of schedule. Excellent!"

**Astro **re-entered the vault. Anger burned under his skin, he hated being used like this, but he couldn't do anything, at least not yet. Why hadn't he set off some kind of alarm? Surely the government would have put some kind of security measure in place. Astro quickly scanned the inside of the large room while he gathered up another large pile of the heavy bricks. There was only one way into this vault, though the heavy steel doors at the far side of the room that were still securely locked shut. The walls, ceiling and floor were all made of a several inches thick chromium-tungsten steel alloy that would have required a diamond studded saw blade to cut into. Even an electric-oxygen cutting torch would have a tough job on the material and have taken hours of work to penetrate. Of course his own high powered laser had no difficulty melting though, just as Kin Sankaku had known it would.

Still, it didn't make sense that there wasn't some kind of motion detector. What security expert would have been so smug in their dependence on a locked door and 'impenetrable' walls alone? Unless …. Of course, Tojo had been busy hacking on his computer before they left, had he deactivated some level of security just to make sure? Astro scanned the walls of the vault, zooming in closely to get a good look. Astro did it quickly so that it would appear as a blur to Tojo if he were monitoring his vision at the moment. Sure enough, there were several IR emitters and detectors lining the walls. The detectors were of two kinds, some were tuned to the emitters being a 'break beam' kind of motion detector, others were passive detectors designed to pick up movement of living bodies. The passive units couldn't detect robots, their internal power sources operated at a different heat signature than living beings. The break beam detectors would find him if he'd have interrupted a beam.

Astro switched his vision into the infrared. He could detect no emissions from the security devices, they had been shut down. But wait! Tojo had smugly left the passive detectors on! Astro could see the activity indicators glowing on those! Tojo must have known that they were useless against robots and would ignore him, so he didn't bother to deactivate them. Perhaps there was also a method to his madness here, leaving part of the security system active might not clue someone at the other end where they were being monitored that the system had been compromised.

As he gathered up the final bars for this load, Astro had an idea. He opened his chest panel and felt inside, being careful not to disturb the modification that had been added to him by Tojo. He found the thermal device that Don Tay had implanted within him, and he adjusted the setting. The device had come from the evil robot 'Thermo' that the renegade scientist had created. It could cause Thermo to glow with heat, hot enough to nearly melt steel. Astro had been given the device to protect him from the tremendous cold from a freezing bomb he used to extinguish a volcano. He quickly adjusted it to mimic the thermal output of a human. On his next trip into the vault, he would set off a silent alarm.


	9. Chapter 9

**Dopplegänger**

_IX._

"**Burning** the midnight oil, Inspector?" FBI agent Erskine asked, as he entered the room.

"You could call it that." McClane grumbled. "Thanks to Mr. Hiegoyaji here I think I now know the nature of the threat we are facing. In fact, I'm worried that something may be afoot at this very moment."

"The transfer won't take place until high noon tomorrow when the representatives from the foreign power come to officially take possession of their gold," Erskine said. "Between the two of us we've got the route covered."

"Somehow I doubt that the plans of our Mr. Sankaku involve hijacking the shipment in route." McClane said. "I think when you guys open the vault tomorrow, you're going to find that the cookie jar has been picked clean."

"That's impossible." Erskine laughed. "Didn't your read the full spec's on that vault?"

"Yeah I did." McClane said, turning his laptop around so it faced Mustachio. "Hiegoyaji-san. Can you access the information that you told me about?"

"Yes I think I remember the passwords." Mustachio said, quickly typing on the keyboard. The Institute of Science's internal web server opened and Hiegoyaji managed to find the secret documents that contained Astro's blueprints. "Got it!" he said. "But I'm going to have to wipe the browsers cache when we're done."

"I totally understand." McClane nodded. "Here, Agent Erskine, please read this!"

Lewis Erskine scanned the document. He whistled as he read some of the details. "What the hell is this thing!" he cried out.

"That 'thing', as you call it, happens to be one of my best students!" Mustachio said with his arms crossed. "He is an advanced android developed some years ago by the former head of the Japanese Ministry of Science to replace his 'dead' son. That robot was built with enough power and weapons to make him a superhero, a job that he has selflessly performed many times."

"The thing is, Agent Erskine, this robot, whose name happens to be Astro, is being forced against his will to break into that vault. And if you've read those blueprints, you know that he is totally capable of doing that." McClane said. "Now it also appears that Dr. Tenma's 'dead' son Tobio, who Astro was built to replace, is actually quite alive and well and living in this city with his mother who is also not as dead as we first thought. The two of them are working for this Kin Sankaku, possibly against their will, perhaps he has some financial hold over her."

"What I can't understand is why Astro hasn't figured out a way to somehow let us know what is going on." Mustachio said. "He's usually quite resourceful, and would have figured out some way to contact the authorities."

"He's under duress because Sankaku is holding Professor Ochanomizu hostage." McClane explained.

"He'd still find a way!" Mustachio insisted.

At that moment Erskine's cell phone started making a very loud warning sound. The FBI agent pulled the phone from his pocket and quickly tapped on the screen. "It seems you are both right," he said. "A motion sensor alarm was just triggered in the vault!"

* * *

**Professor **Ochanomizu was sitting in a large padded chair in a well decorated room. There were plenty of expensive paintings hanging on the walls, and quite a few marble and bronze statues on pedestals throughout the room. A tall Asian female wearing a dark lace veil over her face sat in another chair on the other side of the room. She wore thin cotton gloves on her hands, and nervously held a cigarette in a long thin holder in one hand, and a small caliber pistol in the other.

"You're not going to shoot me, are you?" Ochanomizu asked. "Why don't you put that gun away, before it goes off by accident. You're shaking like a leaf!"

"Just be quiet, Hakase," She said, looking at her cellphone. "Don't make this any harder than it already is."

"Oh come on," the professor replied. "I've already figured out who you are. That disguise is paper thin, and I recognize the voice."

"Damn you Elefun!" she yelled out, and then clamped a hand over her mouth as if to try and take back her last outburst.

"That only confirms it, Hoshie," he said. "Only my godson and his mother ever called me by that nickname!"

Hoshie dropped the cigarette to the floor and stuffed the gun into her cleavage. She put her hands over her face under the veil and started to sob. "You have no idea what I've been going though!" she said. "Do you know how difficult it was to stand by and watch Umataro mistreat my son? His lawyers and a bought judge handed down an iron clad divorce settlement that left me out in the cold with no visitation rights. I had to stand by while his fame grew. I only heard second hand how smart my son was, and how well he was doing in school. After he went insane and was committed to that mental hospital I was able to reverse that divorce agreement and take over his estate.

But I'd nearly lost it when Tobio had that fatal accident, and I found out how Umataro had cold heartedly pushed him aside and built that, that robot to replace him, only to abandon that too! I tried to commit suicide, which ironically may have been the best thing I'd ever done. Kuro Hazama Sensai saved my life, and he also confided in me that Tobio was still alive. That bastard Umataro had donated my son's comatose body to science, and Dr. Black Jack had found him and revived him. Kuro faked my death by forging the required documents and helped me sneak out of the country with Tobio. But things haven't gone that well for us here."

Ochanomizu carefully got up out of the chair and approached Hoshie. She saw him move and quickly retrieved the weapon from between her breasts. "No, Hakase! Stay away from me!" she said. "If Kin Sankaku calls me, I'll have to kill you and show him a picture of your dead body, or he'll kill Tobio! He's got me over a barrel, I'm deeply in dept to him for over ¥10,000,000."

* * *

**FBI **Agent Erskine stared at his phone. "Only one of the passive motion detectors went off. None of the active ones did. That doesn't make much sense."

"Astro can see in the IR spectrum." Mustachio said, "He could have avoided the active sensors if he wanted to, and he wouldn't be effected by the passive ones, his body doesn't have a heat signature like a living being."

"That makes sense." McClane laughed. "Erskine, your security system has been hacked. Tojo must have deactivated the active system but left the passive one active to fool you. With only part of the system disabled, the part that actually mattered, he made it look like the vault was still secure. I bet Astro figured out how to trigger the passive alarm to let us know that the break in is going down."

McClane took the laptop and quickly brought up the schematics he'd been looking at earlier. "Look, do you see how these abandoned subway tunnels intersect with the bank?"

Erskine nodded. "Yes, but you've got a few hundred yards of solid bedrock you'd have to drill though to reach the vault, and almost a foot of hard steel after that."

"Which would be like pushing a hot knife though butter for Astro!" Mustachio yelled at him.

Erskine let that sink in for a moment and then face palmed. The FBI agent then dialed his phone and started barking orders. "This is special agent Erskine! We have a code red alert here. Get our forces in place by the river near the abandoned subway tunnel! Also send a squad over to the bullion depositary. We're under attack and we've been breached!"

* * *

**The **pile of gold bars was now several feet above the sides of the truck bed, and the reworked suspension was almost bottomed out. "I don't think your truck is going to carry any more gold." Astro told Kin Sankaku.

"Let me see." Sankaku spoke into the iPad's microphone. Astro gazed at the truck and shared the image with the criminal. "That will do." Sankaku said. "Let's head out of here."

Tojo and Sankaku walked back to the truck and got into the cab, Astro sat on the rear bumper. Kim started the engine and put the vehicle into gear. The truck tried move under the tremendous weight sitting in its bed, the transmission moaned and the gears ground. Finally after carefully babying the clutch he managed to get it moving. The floor of the tunnel was unpaved with lots of loose gravel, dirt, and damp muck. It provided poor traction, and the overloaded tires kept sinking into the soft surface.

"Get out and push!" Sankaku ordered Astro.

The effort was even too much for Astro. His feet kept slipping on the ground as he couldn't get enough grip. "Do something Baka!" Sankaku yelled "If we don't get out of this tunnel with our cargo your Hakase is as good as dead!"

Astro tried again to push the truck, but could get no traction. Finally in desperation he grabbed onto the bumper and fired up his leg jets. That did it! Astro had to carefully regulate his power, he didn't want to go too fast with this kind of load.

"Excellent!" Sankaku yelled back. "Keep us going slow and steady." He put the truck into neutral and let Astro provide all of the motive power.

* * *

**Inspector **McClane flipped a mental coin and joined the contingent of G-men surrounding the area at the west end of the abandoned subway tunnel. There were several places where the tunnel could be accessed from the street, but the one that he was banking on was the one closest to the Hudson river. The FBI placed their agents at each of the possible access places to hedge their bets.

Special Agent Erskine took a few of the cops from McClane's precinct with him, along with the remaining FBI agents and they converged on the bank. Sure enough, just as McClane had predicted most of the gold bullion had been removed from the vault. Erskine quickly doubled back across town to meet up with McClane at the mouth of the tunnel. He arrived to find that he wasn't too late.

"What's the word?" he asked.

"Our men stationed at the eastern access points report they've heard movement in the tunnel heading this way." McClane told him. "Just as I predicted, they're heading for the river. I'm going to set up a road block just past the mouth of the tunnel. We'll have them surrounded as soon as they exit."

"Sounds like a good plan." Erskine agreed. "Order your men stationed to the east to hurry back here."

"Already done that." McClane replied. "We got them."

* * *

**The ** truck loaded with the gold bullion rolled along, its suspension creaking under the weight of its cargo. "We're almost at the river now." Tojo said, looking at the map on his iPad. "We've passed the other access points already."

"Good." Kim said. He felt in his pocket for the gun. He didn't know if he'd been double crossed, but he had a few aces up his sleeve just in case.

The truck emerged from the tunnel into darkness. Suddenly the headlights of a dozen police and unmarked federal cars blazed into their eyes. A half dozen more were behind them.

"Give it up, Sankaku!" McClane bellowed from a bullhorn. "We've got you surrounded!"

Kin Sankaku pulled the gun from his pocket and pointed it at Tojo's head.

"Clear a path for me or the boy gets it!" He yelled out the driver's side window. He then spoke to Tojo. "If you value your life, you tell Astro to fly us out of this trap!"

Tojo gritted his teeth and started typing on his iPad to send a message to Astro that he'd already prepared.

**Astro **saw the police ambush as soon as they emerged from the tunnel. For a moment he was pleased that his plan had worked, then he burned with anger at Sankaku when he heard the man's threat. Suddenly Astro's heads up display activated as Tojo sent him a text message with Kin's demands, and the boy's own plans. It would be dangerous, and the timing critical, but if Tojo wasn't afraid to even suggest it, Astro was willing to go along.

Astro let go of his grip on the truck's bumper and quickly dug a short tunnel into the ground beneath it. He popped up under the vehicle and grabbed onto its frame. He then fired up his leg jets again and lifted the truck into the air, flying it above the road block. Astro headed for the Hudson river where Sankaku had a barge waiting for him.

**The **cops and the G-men dropped their jaws in astonishment as the truck blasted off the ground and zoomed over their heads. McClane babbled "I'll be a monkey's uncle!", while agent Erskine looked at Mustachio and demanded "What is that damn robot doing now!"

Sankaku lowered his gun the moment the truck became airborne. He seemed pleased with himself that he was getting away with the crime of the century. He didn't notice the slight turn that Astro had just executed, and the fact that the truck was loosing altitude. Tojo pushed the window panel behind him open. He braced himself by grabbing hold of his seat belt, he noticed with satisfaction that Sankaku had failed to belt himself in. He then typed one word on the iPad. "Hai!"

Astro got the message. He turned the truck on its side and started to gain altitude. He reached over and opened the driver's side door of the truck. Gold bars spilled out of the truck's bed and fell into the river. Not restrained by a seat belt, Kin Sankaku fell out of the truck and made a splash landing into the Hudson. With the bed of the trunk now empty Tojo climbed though the open rear window onto the bed of the truck and jumped. Astro caught him after letting go of the truck, which smashed into the river and quickly sank.


	10. Chapter 10

**Dopplegänger**

_**X.**_

**About **ten minutes later the crew of a police boat fished Kin Sankaku out of the Hudson river. He was brought into McClane's precinct in handcuffs under the guard of several FBI agents.

Special Agent Erskine grabbed McClane and pulled him aside. "This didn't go exactly as planned, did it?" He said with a dread look on his face. "That gold shipment is now at the bottom of the river, and the transfer is supposed to take place at noon today. If that gold isn't recovered it will spark an international incident!"

"Don't worry about that." McClane said, crossing his fingers behind his back. "We've already got a team of divers working on recovering the gold."

* * *

**Astro **flew uptown with Tojo and landed in the middle of central park not far from the carousel. "Where is Ochanomizu Hakase?" he asked with a stern look on his face.

"He isn't in any danger." Tojo said. "My mother is guarding him."

"Where?" Astro demanded.

"I'll give you the address if you take me there with you." Tojo said.

"Agreed." Astro replied.

The window to the penthouse apartment was forced open from the outside, and two figures entered the room through it. "Please put that gun down, mother!" Tojo said.

Hoshie turned to see her son and another version of him standing next to each other. One was dressed in dark clothing, wearing mirrored sunglasses. The other was nearly naked wearing only a pair of red boots and a pair of dark briefs topped by a green band. Both sported similar cowlicks at the same angle on their hair lines.

Hoshie handed the gun to Ochanomizu, who gave a sigh of relief. He looked at the weapon for a second and face palmed. It wasn't loaded.

"Tobio!" Ochanomizu exclaimed, spreading his arms out in greeting.

"Yes it's me, Godfather Elefun," the boy laughed. "It's been a long time since I've laid eyes on you, hasn't it?"

"There's something I've got to go take care of" Astro said. "Will you be alright, Hakase?"

"I think so." he said, turning to face his godson. "I'm going to have to call the police, Tobio. You do understand?"

"Yes, Godfather." the boy said bowing his head.

Hoshie looked at the professor and at Astro. "What about Kin Sankaku?" She asked, with some fear in her voice.

"Not to worry about him, mother." Tobio said. "I think the police should have fished him out of the river by now, and have him locked up. He won't be bothering us anymore."

* * *

**Astro **dove beneath the murky waters of the Hudson river and lit his eye search lights. He remembered exactly where he had flown over the river when he dumped the contents of the truck. The gold bars were too heavy to drift much in the river current and he quickly spotted them. Astro made several trips from the river bottom to the police dive boat, dumping several hundred pounds of the bars onto the deck of the boat with each trip. After the last of the gold was recovered Astro waved at the astonished crew while swimming back to Manhattan island. Once he was out of sight of the boat, he flew towards the police precinct where inspector McClane was stationed.

* * *

**McClane **put his phone back into his pocket after hanging up. He turned to Erskine and smiled. "That was a call from the Hudson river dive crew. Every single gold bar as been found and the entire cargo is now en route back to the vault in an armored car.

"That was very quick work," Erskine said. "I must give high marks for your dive crew."

"I'd thank you for them, except that they didn't have much to do with the recovery of the gold." McClane said. "The captain of the dive boat reported with some astonishment that a small child did all the work. From his description, it appears to have been Astro the robot."

The door to McClane's office opened and a young officer walked in. "Inspector McClane, sir?" he said, "They told me downstairs to let you know that the boy and his mother were brought in, the Professor was with them."

"Thank you." McClane said, walking to the door. "I'm going to question them myself."

By the time the inspector had made it downstairs to the booking desk, Astro had arrived. "You two are facing serious charges." he said, addressing Tobio and Hoshie.

"I don't believe she would have harmed me." Ochanomize told the inspector. "She was being held between a rock and a hard place by Kim Sankaku. Besides the gun wasn't loaded." The Professor added, handing the weapon to McClane.

"It's strange that Sankaku would have given her an unloaded gun to guard you with." McClane wondered.

"That's not actually what happened," Tobio said dumping the contents of his rear jeans pocket onto the table, producing about a half dozen 22 caliber cartridges. "I unloaded the weapon when he wasn't looking."

"Look inspector," Ochanomizu pleaded, "I know the boy has committed a few felonies, and his mother was involved with this gold caper, but it all ended well thanks to Astro."

"Well the boy's lucky that museum haul was too hot to handle. We managed to recover all of it from the black market thanks to some inside connections." McClane said. "I'll acknowledge that he did help with Sankaku's capture in a small way. But he's been involved in quite a few small street crimes and he's going to face charges for enough stuff to earn some serious jail time."

"But what about his age?" Mustachio broke in.

"He'll be treated as a minor." McClane acknowledged.

"Can I use your phone?" Ochanomizu asked. "I need to call overseas, I'll reverse the charges."

"You'd better." McClane laughed, pointing to the desk phone. "Dial 9, then 1 to get an outside line."

Two officers entered the room and handcuffed Hoshie and Tobio, escorting them out of the room.

"Where are you taking them?" Ochanomizu asked.

"To the tombs." One of the officers responded.

"That's the Department of justice lockup." McClane said. "You can bail them out tomorrow, the boy and his mother will be New York City's guest for the evening."

* * *

**Later **back in their hotel room Astro and the Professor were talking with Mustachio.

"I feel bad for Tobio and Hoshie" Astro sighed. "It wasn't his fault, it was the accident."

"I'm sure you're right, Astro." Ochanomizu said. "If affected his mental state, but he seems to have returned to normal a bit."

"Maybe seeing you again had something to do with it." Mustachio told Ochanomizu.

"Perhaps so. When they kidnapped me and brought me to Kim Sankaku's penthouse both Hoshie and Tobio were there. Even though both had disguised their appearances, I knew who they were and I could tell they knew me.

"I wish there was something we could do for them." Mustachio said.

"I tried calling the US embassy in Tokyo, and our embassy in Washington, but they refused to make any considerations." The professor sighed. The boy and his mother will have to stand trial."

"I have an idea, Hakase." Astro smiled. "Can I make a long distance call?"

"I don't know who you think could help, but go ahead." Ochanomizu said.

"Well it is a long shot." Astro smirked, "But it might work."

He picked up the phone and entered a long string of numbers. Ochanomizu and Mustachio shrugged their shoulders and let Astro alone. He was on the phone for almost an hour, before he hung up with a smirk on his face.

* * *

**The bailiff** escorted Hoshie and Tobio into the court room. Professor Ochanomizu and Astro were already standing by the judge's desk, along with Inspector McClane, and the federal prosecuting attorney.

"Would you mind translating for me, Astro?" Ochanomizu said, bending down and whispering. "My English might not be up to the task in a court of law."

"Hai, Hakase." Astro said.

The professor addressed the judge in his native Japanese, Astro repeated for him in English.

"Your honor, we're here in the matter of bail for Hoshie and Tobio Tenma."

The judge looked down at his paperwork and was about to make a statement, when two other individuals entered the courtroom.

"Your honor," the taller of the two spoke up, "I'm Peter Farkus from the US State Department, and this gentlemen with me is Mr. Kunimitsu Tezuka with the Japanese embassy. I'm glad we were able to get here in time."

"I take it your appearance here has something to do with this case?" The judge asked.

"Yes, your honor." Farkus said. "We received a communication from the Japanese government requesting that a Hoshie Tenma and her son Tobio be returned to Japan. They are asking we drop charges under diplomatic immunity."

"This sounds highly unusual," the federal attorney said.

Farkus handed the judge an official document, which the judge read.

"It seems that my hands are tied." The judge said. "This document orders the deportation of a Hoshie and Tobio Tenma, they are to leave this country immediately and are to return to their native Japan. They are to be remanded to the custody of a Professor Ochanomizu until they are out of the territory of the United States."

"Your Honor!" The federal attorney cried, "I must protest!"

"I'm sorry Mr. Federal Prosecutor, but this order comes from the oval office and has the president's signature on it!" the judge replied, banging his gavel on the bench.

Hoshie and Tobio had their handcuffs removed and exited the courtroom with Astro and the professor.

"Just who did you call last night?" Ochanomizu asked Astro.

"Oh, my good friend Hisahito - Kun," Astro laughed. "I guess he spoke to his grandfather!"

Ochanomizu face palmed. "You're good friends with the Emperor's grandson?"

"Oh sure!" Astro laughed. "We play Shogi every other weekend. I usually let him beat me."

* * *

**Several **weeks later the Professor had a visitor in his office. Hoshie walked in, accompanied by Astro who had brought her.

"Ohayō, Ochanomizu Hakase" Hoshie said with a slight bow.

"Ohayō, Hoshie-san," the professor replied. "How are you and Tobio doing?"

"Very well, thanks to you." Hoshie smiled. "Dr. Black Jack has been treating Tobio. He had suffered an undiagnosed brain injury do to his accident, and Sensai's treatment has restored his good nature."

"How are you doing with your new employment?"

"Very well, Hakase." Hoshie smiled. "I can't thank you enough for recommending me."

"Nonsense, it was actually Mustachio's idea." Ochanomizu said. "He knew of an opening in the school system for an assistant teacher and you were more than qualified."

Hoshie looked up at the clock above the professor's desk. "Oh my look at the time. I'll be late picking up my son from the clinic."

"I'll get you there in time, Hahaoya" Astro said.

"You don't have to call me that." Hoshie said embarrassed.

"I can't help it." Astro sighed. "You are the closest thing I have to a mother."

Astro walked out of the building with Hoshie. A few minutes later, the professor thought he saw the vapor trail of Astro's leg jets in front of the clouds. "Guess he's giving Hoshie a ride." Ochanomizu thought.

The professor opened his bottom desk drawer and pulled out a framed picture he'd left in there for a few years. It had been an image of Tobio, Hoshie and Umataro together, only photo had been cut down with a pair of scissors and Dr. Tenma was missing. The professor opened the frame and removed the photograph. He reached for the framed photo of Astro and himself that was on the desk and removed the photo from the frame. Carefully he cut it down and then taped the two photographs together, trimming them so they would fit in one frame. He looked at his handiwork with approval and set the frame back on his desk.

"Now that's the way it should have always been." He thought happily.

_**The End**_


End file.
